Study finds B.C. should extend foster care after age 19

Lori Culbert, Vancouver Sun06.09.2014

Robert Davidson is one of the many of the foster children who used the Link program at Aunt Leah’s Place in New Westminster to help them transition out of foster care when they turn 19. A University of Victoria study released Monday says B.C. should extend care to age 24.

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A University of Victoria study released Monday says B.C. should extend foster care beyond age 19, after evaluating a non-profit agency’s program that helped former government wards reduce homelessness.

One of the seven recommendations from Prof. Deborah Rutman’s research says, “the results of this study (should) support extending the age of government care-related supports to young people to age 24.”

The report noted other jurisdictions, such as Ontario and multiple U.S. states, have already extended foster care past the age of 19. In B.C., foster children lose their social worker and government support for housing and expenses at age 19, which Rutman describes as being “cast adrift at the age of majority by the ‘state parent’.”

There is a rising chorus in B.C. advocating for this policy change, from Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, the government-hired representative for children and youth, to non-profit agencies like the Vancouver Foundation. (The Ministry for Children and Families has maintained former foster children can access the services available for adults once they age out of care, but acknowledge the confusing system is difficult to navigate, especially for vulnerable youth.)

Rutman interviewed 21 youth that attend the Link program run by Aunt Leah’s, a New Westminster based non-profit that has provided services for youth leaving foster care for 25 years.

Shanee, 27, has relied on Aunt Leah’s Link program for years, since she was a pregnant teenager with no family support.

When she aged out of foster care at 19, she still had seamless access to her Link support workers — which she said was crucial to keep her “on the good path of life.”

“Being that age you are not fully mature yet. I still got help from them shopping for groceries, making my appointments, they just continued to help me,” said Shanee, who asked that her last name not be published.

“From other (former foster care) youth I’ve seen who haven’t been connected with Aunt Leah’s, it was much easier for me.”

Today Shanee is raising her three children, has recently completed her high school diploma, and is planning to go to college to be a health care assistant.

“If it wasn’t for (Aunt Leah’s Link program), life would be different for me in a negative way because my whole family has addictions issues. I am like the black sheep in my family because I don’t,” she said.

Link is the only program in Metro Vancouver that guarantees after aging out of care that youth will continue to get help from the same people who supported them before they turned 19, says Rutman’s report, entitled Avoiding the Precipice.

Link offers life skills workshops, drop-ins, food, outreach, and one-to-one support and helped 76 young adults and their 25 children between April 2012 and March 2013.

Rutman also interviewed a comparison group: 22 former foster children who did not use the Link program, but instead tried to navigate a confusing system of limited government services without “a safety net.”

Both groups of young people, ranged in age from 19 to 26 and had similar backgrounds to most other former government wards, Rutman found: the majority had not graduated from high school, lived in deep poverty, struggled with employment and housing, and had mental health and addiction issues.

However, Rutman’s research found those who accessed Link did fare better. When it came to housing, for example, more of the comparison group were living in a shelter, supportive housing, or subsidized housing, rather than market housing.

And 32 per cent of the comparison group, compared to just 10 per cent of the Link participants, reported experiencing homelessness at some point after aging out of foster care.

“Link’s services and supports can help former foster youth avoid homelessness and maintain market housing after losing their government support at age 19,” Rutman says in her report.

Link participants also told researchers that “things were going well” in more areas of their lives than did those in the comparison group: Housing, money, health, mental health, employment, connection with culture, social and family relationships, and daily living.

The comparison group indicated they were doing better than the Link participants in only three areas: community connections, education and communication.

These findings suggest the Link program, funded by the Vancouver Foundation, would be cost-effective, but Rutman said further study is needed to prove whether the costs per participant are offset by reduced future use of welfare, jails, health care, and emergency housing.

Rutman cited a cost-benefit analysis performed by The Vancouver Sun in its recent series on children who age out of foster care, which found there would be a return of $1.11 for every dollar spent on extending support care beyond age 19 in B.C.

The Link program, Rutman wrote, costs just $182 per month per participant.

“The Vancouver Sun research suggests that the Link investment is money well-spent as by extending care ‘from age 19 to 24, an estimated $91,778 could be saved or earned over that person’s lifetime,’” says the report.

In a press release, Turpel-Lafond said about this report: “The Link program is the perfect illustration of how transition support can make a real and measurable difference in the lives of young adults in vulnerable times.”

An estimated 700 19-year-olds age out of foster care each year in B.C. and, statistics show they face very dire outcomes compared to youth from more traditional families. Academic studies have shown those outcomes improve with more support in their early adult years.

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